Unstrained Quantum Research Articles

Molecular Beam Epitaxy of Homogeneous Topological HgTe on Doped InAs Substrate

AbstractHgTe has been considered to be one of the most versatile topological materials. Depending on the in‐plane strain, Weyl and Dirac semi‐metal, as well as topological insulator phases, are feasible. Here, for the first time it is reported, that an InAs:S substrate promotes an initial 2D growth of a ZnTe thin layer and subsequent high crystalline quality ZnTe/CdTe superlattices serve as a smooth and continuous virtual substrate for the growth of (Cd,Hg)Te/HgTe/(Cd,Hg)Te heterostructures with unstrained quantum well HgTe (topological insulator) and compressively strained bulk HgTe (Weyl semimetal) by molecular beam epitaxy. Compared with the superlattices previously grown on GaAs substrates, the quantum well and bulk heterostructures exhibit homogeneous surfaces with root mean square roughnesses of 0.88–0.93 nm, which is three times lower than those observed for 3D islands (2.7–3.4 nm) on GaAs substrates. Additionally, magnetotransport measurements confirm high electronic quality and demonstrate that the S‐doped InAs substrate can be used as an effective back gate. These results manifest a (big) step forward toward the improvement of micro‐ and nanometer‐sized top‐ and back‐gated device fabrication on topological materials.

Light emission from ion-implanted SiGe quantum dots grown on Si substrates

We report on electroluminescence spectroscopy experiments demonstrating room-temperature light emission from heavily alloyed SiGe quantum dots, for which the light emission properties are enhanced by incorporated split-[110] self-interstitials. The quantum dots are formed during molecular beam epitaxy deposition of Si0.6Ge0.4 alloys on n-doped silicon-on-insulator substrates. To create the split-[110] self-interstitials the quantum dots were co-implantated in-situ using Si and Ge ions. The hybrid emitters were further embedded into the intrinsic region of a p-i-n diode structure to enable electrical pumping. Similar to previous theoretical results on unstrained Ge-based quantum dots containing these defects, radiative direct transitions are possible for these SiGe light emitters. However, in SiGe dots these transitions are not at the Brillouin zone center. Instead, first-principles calculations indicate that the presence of the split-[110] self-interstitial defect in strained and unstrained SiGe can lead to optically direct transitions in momentum space in the X-direction of the Brillouin zone.

Imaging the electrostatic landscape of unstrained self-assemble GaAs quantum dots

Unstrained GaAs quantum dots are promising candidates for quantum information devices due to their optical properties, but their electronic properties have remained relatively unexplored until now. In this work, we systematically investigate the electronic structure and natural charging of GaAs quantum dots at room temperature using Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM). We observe a clear electrical signal from these structures demonstrating a lower surface potential in the middle of the dot. We ascribe this to charge accumulation and confinement inside these structures. Our systematical investigation reveals that the change in surface potential is larger for a nominal dot filling of 2 nm and then starts to decrease for thicker GaAs layers. Using k · p calculation, we show that the confinement comes from the band bending due to the surface Fermi level pinning. We find a correlation between the calculated charge density and the KPFM signal indicating that k · p calculations could be used to estimate the KPFM signal for a given structure. Our results suggest that these self-assembled structures could be used to study physical phenomena connected to charged quantum dots like Coulomb blockade or Kondo effect.

Impact of strain on the electronic properties of InAs/GaSb quantum well systems

Electron-hole hybridization in InAs/GaSb double quantum well structures leads to the formation of a mini band gap. We experimentally and theoretically studied the impact of strain on the transport properties of this material system. Thinned samples were mounted to piezo electric elements to exert strain along the [011] and [001] crystal directions. When the Fermi energy is tuned through the mini gap, a dramatic impact on the resistivity at the charge neutrality point is found which depends on the amount of applied external strain. In the electron and hole regimes, strain influences the Landau level structure. By analyzing the intrinsic strain from the epitaxial growth, the external strain from the piezo elements and combining our experimental results with numerical simulations of strained and unstrained quantum wells, we compellingly illustrate why the InAs/GaSb material system is regularly found to be semimetallic.

Formation of self-assembled Ga-rich droplet chains on GaAs (100) patterned by focused ion beam

Controlled positioning and ordering of uniform self-assembled droplets on a patterned GaAs (100) substrate is demonstrated using a Ga+ focused ion beam. The arrangement of the droplets into an array of droplet chains is induced by changes in the surface morphology during irradiation as a function of sputtering time. Energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy reveals that the droplets are Ga-rich. The patterned surface may be of interest for plasmonic studies and may find application as a template for site-specific epitaxial growth of unstrained quantum dot chains utilizing local droplet etching and droplet epitaxy techniques.

Strong coupling and polariton lasing in Te based microcavities embedding (Cd,Zn)Te quantum wells

We report on properties of an optical microcavity based on (Cd,Zn,Mg)Te layers and embedding (Cd,Zn)Te quantum wells. The key point of the structure design is the lattice matching of the whole structure to MgTe, which eliminates the internal strain and allows one to embed an arbitrary number of unstrained quantum wells in the microcavity. We evidence the strong light-matter coupling regime already for the structure containing a single quantum well. Embedding four unstrained quantum wells results in further enhancement of the exciton-photon coupling and the polariton lasing in the strong coupling regime.

Optimization of Optical Gain in Inx Ga1-xSb/GaSb Unstrained Quantum Well Structures

In this paper we study the effects of In concentration, temperature, quantum well width and carrier density on optical gain for GaSb/InxGa1-xSb/GaSb untrained quantum well structures. This system was chosen as it is useful in infrared emission, finally, we introduce the optimum structure of quantum well to obtain the maximum optical gain, at room temperature and infrared emission particularly 2.3 (μm), for the use this structure in application of spectroscopic analysis of the gases specially CH4. This structure can be used for light absorption to increase the solar cell efficiency a based on a quantum well and multi-junction.

Temperature behavior of unstrained (GaAs/AlGaAs) and strained (InGaAs/GaAs) quantum well bandgaps

The Cardona equation describing the temperature behavior of a bulk semiconductor is utilized to fit experimental photoluminescence data for both strained and unstrained quantum wells (QWs). To account for confinement energy and strain energy, the Cardona equation was modified to include the respective energy offsets. Results of modeling experimentally obtained PL of GaAs/AlGaAs QWs for the unstrained case, and PL of InGaAs/GaAs QWs for the strained case, shows that the modified Cardona equation gives excellent fits to the temperature behavior even for QW bandgaps. Thus, the equation is utilized to extract QW eigenenergies, which are verifiable using the usual effective mass approximation method in solving Schrodinger’s equation for a finite potential well.

Threshold pump intensity effect on the refractive index changes in InGaN SQD: Internal constitution and size effects

In the present paper, internal composition and size-dependent threshold pump intensity effects on on-center impurity-related linear, third-order nonlinear and total refractive index changes are investigated in wurtzite (In,Ga)N/GaN unstrained spherical quantum dot. The calculation is performed within the framework of parabolic band and single band effective-mass approximations using a combination of Quantum Genetic Algorithm (QGA) and Hartree–Fock–Roothaan (HFR) method. According to the results obtained, (i) a significant red-shift (blue shift) is obtained as the dot size (potential barrier) increases and (ii) a threshold optical pump intensity depending strongly on the size and the internal composition is obtained which constitutes the limit between two behaviors.

Numerical modeling of the InAs quantum dot with application of coordinate transformation and the finite difference method

In order to resolve the three dimensional Schrödinger equation, we report in this paper a method providing sufficient accuracy, stability and flexibility with respect to the size and shape of the quantum dot. This numerical method, already used in the two-dimensional case, is based on a suitable combination of coordinate transformation and the finite difference method. It provides an efficient and simple approach for the energy and wavefunction calculations of quantum nanostructures. The proposed method is used to investigate the electron and hole energy levels as well as their wave functions in InAs/GaAs strained and unstrained quantum dots with the aim to attain the 1.55 μm wavelength with realistic dot size. The optical transition energies and the oscillator strengths are also studied. The obtained results are in agreement with several previous works.

A light-hole exciton in a quantum dot

A light-hole exciton is a quasiparticle formed from a single electron bound to a single light hole. This type of fundamental excitation, if confined inside a semiconductor quantum dot, could be advantageous in quantum information science and technology. However, it has been difficult to access it so far, because confinement and strain in conventional quantum dots favour a ground-state single-particle hole with a predominantly heavy-hole character. Here we demonstrate the creation of a light-hole exciton ground state by applying elastic stress to an initially unstrained quantum dot. Its signature is clearly distinct from that of the well-known heavy-hole exciton and consists of three orthogonally polarized bright optical transitions and a fine-structure splitting of hundreds of microelectronvolts between in-plane and out-of-plane components. This work paves the way for the exploration of the fundamental properties and of the potential relevance of three-dimensionally confined light-hole states in quantum technologies. An electron and a hole trapped in the same quantum dot couple together to form an exciton. Conventionally the hole involved is a heavy hole. Light-hole excitons are now observed by applying elastic stress to initially unstrained gallium arsenide-based dots. The quasiparticles are identified by their optical emission signature, and could be used in future quantum technologies.

Strain and band-mixing effects on the excitonic Aharonov-Bohm effect in In(Ga)As/GaAs ringlike quantum dots

Neutral excitons in strained axially symmetric In(Ga)As/GaAs quantum dots with ringlike shape are investigated. Similar to experimental self-assembled quantum rings, the analyzed quantum dots have volcano-like shapes. The continuum mechanical model is employed to determine the strain distribution, and the single-band envelope function approach is adopted to compute the electron states. The hole states are determined by the axially symmetric multiband Luttinger-Kohn Hamiltonian, and the exciton states are obtained from an exact diagonalization. We found that the presence of the inner layer covering the ring opening enhances the excitonic Aharonov-Bohm (AB) oscillations. The reason is that the hole becomes mainly localized in the inner part of the quantum dot due to strain, whereas the electron resides mainly inside the ring-shaped rim. Interestingly, larger AB oscillations are found in the analyzed quantum dot than in a fully opened quantum ring of the same width. Comparison with the unstrained ring-like quantum dot shows that the amplitude of the excitonic Aharonov-Bohm oscillations are almost doubled in the presence of strain. The computed oscillations of the exciton energy levels are comparable in magnitude to the oscillations measured in recent experiments.

Hybridization and Spin Decoherence in Heavy-Hole Quantum Dots

We theoretically investigate the spin dynamics of a heavy hole confined to an unstrained III-V semiconductor quantum dot and interacting with a narrowed nuclear-spin bath. We show that band hybridization leads to an exponential decay of hole-spin superpositions due to hyperfine-mediated nuclear pair flips, and that the accordant single-hole-spin decoherence time T2 can be tuned over many orders of magnitude by changing external parameters. In particular, we show that, under experimentally accessible conditions, it is possible to suppress hyperfine-mediated nuclear-pair-flip processes so strongly that hole-spin quantum dots may be operated beyond the "ultimate limitation" set by the hyperfine interaction which is present in other spin-qubit candidate systems.

Toward quantum interference of photons from independent quantum dots

The authors present steps toward the experimental realization of indistinguishable single photon sources based on independent unstrained GaAs quantum dots (QDs), which are embedded in planar cavities to improve the light collection efficiency. The emission lines of two QDs are brought into resonance and overlapped at a beam splitter. The coherence properties of the emitted photons are investigated by measuring the first-order field correlation function. Despite the fact that the short dephasing time of the selected QDs prevents us to observe quantum interference between the two photons, the approach could be applied to other QDs.

Compact Polarization Mode Converter Monolithically Integrated Within a Semiconductor Laser

The design and realization of a short, passive, single-section waveguide polarization converter monolithically integrated within a Fabry-Perot ridge waveguide laser is reported. The device is fabricated on an unstrained GaAs-AlGaAs double quantum well heterostructure. A predominantly transverse magnetic polarized optical output from the converter facet of greater than 80% is demonstrated for a converter length of 20 mum at an operating wavelength of 867 nm.

Spin decoherence of a heavy hole coupled to nuclear spins in a quantum dot

We theoretically study the interaction of a heavy hole with nuclear spins in a quasi-two-dimensional III--V semiconductor quantum dot and the resulting dephasing of heavy-hole spin states. It has frequently been stated in the literature that heavy holes have a negligible interaction with nuclear spins. We show that this is not the case. In contrast, the interaction can be rather strong and will be the dominant source of decoherence in some cases. We also show that for unstrained quantum dots the form of the interaction is Ising, resulting in unique and interesting decoherence properties, which might provide a crucial advantage to using dot-confined hole spins for quantum information processing, as compared to electron spins.

Temperature dependent optical properties of single, hierarchically self-assembled GaAs/AlGaAs quantum dots

We report on the experimental observation of bright photoluminescence emission at room temperature from single unstrained GaAs quantum dots (QDs). The linewidth of a single-QD ground-state emission (≈ 8.5 meV) is comparable to the ensemble inhomogeneous broadening (≈ 12.4 meV). At low temperature (T ≤ 40 K) photon correlation measurements under continuous wave excitation show nearly perfect single-photon emission from a single GaAs QD and reveal the single photon nature of the emitted light up to 77 K. The QD emission energies, homogeneous linewidths and the thermally activated behavior as a function of temperature are discussed.

Raman E 1 and E 1 + Δ1 resonances in a system of unstrained germanium quantum dots

The positions and shapes of the Raman E 1 and E 1 + Δ1 resonances of optical phonons are studied as functions of the size of unstrained germanium quantum dots. The quantum dots are grown by molecular-beam epitaxy in GaAs/ZnSe/Ge/ZnSe structures on GaAs(111) wafers. The positions of the E 1 and E 1 + Δ1 resonances are found to shift by at most 0.3 eV. This shift is shown to be well described in terms of a cylindrical model using the quantization of the spectrum of bulk electron-hole states in germanium that form an exciton in a two-dimensional critical point. The fact that the peaks of the E 1 and E 1 + Δ1 resonances appear separately has been detected for the first time, and it is related to the transformation of the interband density of states into a delta function because of spectrum quantization. An increase in the resonance amplitudes in quantum dots as compared to the bulk case is related to the degeneracy multiplicity of the exciton state in the (111) direction.

Multistep fabrication of self-assembled unstrained quantum dashes

We describe a technique for molecular-beam-epitaxy-based fabrication of unstrained quantum dashes with AlxInyGa1−x−yAs alloys lattice matched to InP substrates. Templates for lattice-matched quantum dash growth are obtained by combining molecular beam epitaxy with in situ etching by arsenic bromide. A seed layer of strained self-assembled InAs quantum dashes is converted into nanotrench templates through overgrowth followed by strain-enhanced etching. We have explored limitations on the accessible range of alloy compositions imposed by the etch process and found that strain-induced etching is limited to compounds with low Al content. Nanotrench templates can be filled with lattice-matched alloys of varied compositions to define barriers and quantum wires that could lead to optoelectronic devices in a spectral range around 1.5μm.

Impact of size-dependent non-local elastic strain on the electronic band structure of embedded quantum dots

The effect of mechanical strain on the quantum confinement properties of quantum dots is appreciable and both qualitative and quantitative description of the electronic band structure of quantum dots requires proper incorporation of its effect. Although atomistic calculations such as tight binding or pseudopotential approaches are viable options, the typical and ‘standard’ practice is to employ the coarse-grained multiband envelope function method to compute the band structure of both strained and unstrained quantum dots. The typical recipe involves calculation of strain based on classical continuum elasticity and a subsequent link to the aforementioned eight-band envelope function model. The mechanical strain predicted by classical elasticity is not only size-independent but also departs qualitatively from the actual (atomistic) field owing to neglect of non-local effects that are prevalent at the nanoscale. In the present work, the authors employ the strain as calculated from a size-dependent non-local theory of elasticity (presented in work previously published by the current authors) and assess the qualitative and quantitative effects on the electronic band structure of an InAs-GaAs quantum dot system. Quantitatively, deviations of band gaps in the range of 100 meV are found when compared to classical elasticity-based estimates, while no significant qualitative differences were found. The non-local elastic effects, however, are appreciable only for very small quantum dots and certain materials (such as the InAs-GaAs system discussed in the present work).